Biodegradable Containers

We are all familiar with those plastic containers that plants are sold in. You know, plant your garden and you’re left with a pile of plastic containers. What do you do with them? In the past huge amounts of plastic plant containers have ended up in our landfills. At Phillips Garden we have done our best to reuse those containers ourselves or give them back to growers so they could reuse them. Fortunately, a couple years ago a recycling program was started by the Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association. Now all of our plastic containers and trays are recycled.

While the recycling program was a good first step, at Phillips Garden we are always looking for better choices when it comes to a more sustainable and responsible way of doing things. That’s why we were excited when our friends at Rush Creek Growers started using a new biodegradable container  for all of their annuals and herbs. They are pretty nice looking containers (see photo above). The pots are made from mostly rice hulls as well as bamboo and straw. Everything is bound together by a water soluble starch based binder (say that 3 times fast). They are made to last 18 months for growing purposes and then can be thrown into the compost pile. Pretty cool. We applaud Rush Creek Growers for their commitment to this.

Rush Creek Growers

MNLA Recycling Program

Plants with wintertime interest

Many people don’t consider winter a season in their gardens but there are a good number of plants that look good or interesting or attract wild life all year round.  These plants generally have wintertime berries, beautiful bark, hold their structure in the harsh winter months or have great textures.  Below are some ideas for plants that at least one if not many of these characteristics:

viburnum

crabapple tree

 
crab apple

Miscanthus

Miscanthus

red dogwood

red dogwood

amur cherry tree bark

river birch bark

dwarf blue spruce

spruce

spruce

Our fall services…

Now is a great time to get on the calendar for fall work that will help keep your gardens looking their best while preparing them for a good winter and a beautiful (next) spring.  Ways to do this are:

1.  Planting fall annuals: Gardens can be kept interesting throughout the fall season with plantings of kale cabbage and mums to name a few (see images below)

2.  Fall bulb planting: Bulb planting now will result in a spring garden filled with tulips, daffodils and crocus (see examples of tuilps/daffodils below)

3.  Garden Renovation: Plant division and cutbacks – We can rearrange problem areas in the garden as well as dividing plants to thin out over-crowded areas and use divisions to fill in empty areas.

4.  Seasonal Arrangements for winter: Planting pots with wintertime arrangements can really help a yard celebrate the season.  Below are two examples of planters we did last year

5.  Winter protection from cold and critters: As winter approaches it is important to put the garden to bed.  Covering the plantings with hay helps to protect fragile perennials from harsh winter conditions and wrapping small tress helps protect them from animals.

If you have any questions please contact us!

contact information can be found at our website: http://phillipsgarden.com/contact.htm